


The Complexity of Atomic Bonds

by EchoMoonstone



Series: The Compatibility of Starlight [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Angst, Betaed, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Langst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Outer Space, Slow Build, Slow Burn, The lions definitely care
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-01-07 12:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12233130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoMoonstone/pseuds/EchoMoonstone
Summary: The castle rumbled as explosions hit harshly against the castles outer defenses. Prince Lance grabbed his little sister's hand, covering her face with a cloth as dust filled the air. "Come on Allura, we need to find dad."She looked at him with wide eyes and nodded, putting her hand against the cloth. "Lead the way."OrRoyaltyAltean!Lance AU-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rated teen for violence and potentially dark themes.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! So this is my first go at a Voltron fic but I've read so much I thought, 'why not give a try at it?' You'll have to tell me how this first chapter is, because where else am I going to get the criticism I need to be better. I've thought of any potential trigger warnings and have come up with the following.  
> -Blood  
> -Death  
> I can't really see anything else in this chapter, but that may just be my ignorance flaring up. Feel free to stop reading immidiatly if anything makes you feel uncomfortable.
> 
> I'm planning on a long haul here, so stay tuned.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I found a beta, her name is DandyPony and she's a grammer goddess. Thankfully, she pointed out some major mistakes I didn't notice. So now everything will be beta'd.

_ Boom  _

 

Lance gritted his teeth as the castle shuddered under the explosions hitting the surface outside. 

 

“How could this this have happened?” his little sister Allura said beside him, her eyes shining as they ran down the hallway. 

 

Lance shut his eyes and tried to hold back his feeling of regret. “I don't know.” He really didn't know. One minute, the tear to another reality was ripping apart the Galra home world, and the next Zarkon had come back from the dead and was raining hellfire down on Altea.

 

They turned a corner and entered the command room where their father was issuing commands to and fro. He spotted his children and an unreadable expression crossed his face. “Lance, Allura.”

 

“Dad.” Lance responded, walking over to him with Allura still in tow. “How is this possible? Zarkon was dead.” The image of his brother-in-arms unmoving beside his wife was still painful.

 

Alfor grimaced and shook his head. “I don't know. But I do know we need to keep the Lions out of his hands. He can't have Voltron, not anymore.”

 

Lance opened his eyes in surprise. He hadn't even thought of that. “Are the others okay?” he asked, even as he reached out with his bond to the Blue Lion. She growled in response to his probing, but not at him. It was more at the confusion of the situation. Their head was trying to kill them. She growled again but provided what information was available. The other paladins were alive, for now.

 

He retreated from his bond as another explosion rocked the castle. 

 

“Quiznak,” Alfor cursed. “Coran, what's the status?”

 

The youngish advisor was clicking on holo-projections with both hands. He threw a look behind him. “Not looking good sir. The northern region managed to escape, but Vultivia was wiped out, as well as Belaria.” His shoulders sagged. “There's just too many to get everyone out safely.”

 

King Alfor closed his eyes and sighed.   “I must face him. I have to buy my people more time.”

 

“No!” Allura shouted at the same time as Lance said “Let me help.”

 

Alfor gazed at his children. He then turned to Coran. “Could you-” he was cut off as another explosion hit the castle, parts of the ceiling and walls fragmenting. Everyone ducked for cover, but the debris was too fast, and the lights had gone out. Lance’s blood ran cold as he heard his sister’s scream. 

 

“Allura!” he shouted, scouring the darkness for his sister. He changed his eye structure to gain as much light as possible and was able to make out the hazy outlines of the other people in the room. 

 

“I’ve got her!” Coran shouted, coughing. It sounded wet. 

 

The lights flickered back on and Lance gasped at the sight of his second father figure and sister. They were behind a large pile of rubble, deadly pieces of metal blocking his access to them. Allura had a metal shaft embedded in her abdomen and Coran had a deep laceration across the front of his chest. The blue paladin rushed forward but couldn’t get over the piece of ceiling that had fallen. He felt tears burn at his eyes. Why couldn’t he have done better? First Zarkon, and now this?

 

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder and he turned to see his father. “Calm down son,” he said, before looking to the pair. “Coran, can you walk?”

 

The orange-haired Altean nodded. “Yes sire.” 

 

Alfor nodded “Then both of you need to get to the healing pods.”

 

“But-”

 

“That’s an order.” 

 

Coran looked surprised, but nodded and picked up Alura. “I will see it done Sire.”

 

The king looked him in the eye. “Understand me Coran. You have to get in one as well. I won’t have you die on the foolish whim you’ve found a loophole in my demand.”

 

He nodded and rushed out with a haisty “Yes, Sire”

 

Lance looked at his father, who had turned his back on him. “Lance, you come with me.”

 

The Blue Paladin did as he was told, the both of them running to their lions. Blue lit up when she saw him, as did Red for Alfor. His father stopped him before they got into the lions. “Son, you have to provide cover for the rest of our people. We have to get as many of them to safety as possible. Trygel and Grygan are out there so you’ll have backup, in theory.”

 

Lance stared wide-eyed at his father “What about you?” He knew what his father was planning, but he didn’t want those plans to be confirmed. 

 

His father smirked, a quirk they both did to try and lighten the mood. “Why, I’m going to face Zarkon.”

 

Lance could only nod. His father had the best chance to defeat their now evil leader, and the Blue Lion was more suited to stopping large groups of ships with the ice laser. He rushed forward to hug Alfor, who returned it with just as much desperation. 

 

“Don’t forget about the healing pods in our lions,” Lance muttered into his shoulder, clinging to his father with an imperative need. 

 

“Nor you’” he responded, placing a kiss on Lance’s white hair. 

 

They separated, both heading to their lions. Blue roared in his soul as he sat in the pilot seat, and he felt his father and Red in the back of his mind, and more distant, Trygel and Grygan, always present, but stronger when he was with Blue.

 

“Okay girl, we know what to do.” 

 

And with that the two lions shot out of the mangled castle’s hangar doors. 

 

It was a firefight right off the bat. Galra ships were everywhere, their powerful new technology gained from the study of the comet putting them at huge advantage in comparison to the fighter pilots belonging to the Altean Air Force. Lance pushed his thruster forward, syncing with Blue. Ice shot from her mouth and covered the ships, causing them to drop to the ground as their hydraulic-controlled outer shells froze in the extreme temperature. He dodged and weaved with the other paladins, even Zarkon, a presence in the back of his mind. But he couldn’t concentrate on that right now. Right now he needed to clear a path so the civilians could get away. 

 

The Galra numbers were immense. With every ship he took down, three more seemed to replace it. He could feel his quintessence start to drain, and with each blast, he felt a little more tired. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain through the bond and he was sucked into it, seeing through his father’s eyes. He could feel Alfor’s shock at the bayard driven through his stomach. Lance screamed in his psych, loud enough for Zarkon to stagger. He felt Trigel’s crisp, fresh quintessence next to his, as well as Grygan’s sunny yellow. 

 

_ “How dare you!”  _  They all screamed through the bond, making Zarkon stagger once more. But he wouldn’t respond.

 

_ “Lance, my son”  _ Alfor sent through the bond, his words faint. “ _ You have to scatter the lions so he won’t find them. He can’t have them anymore.”  _

__ _ “Father”  _ Lance cried  _ “Don’t leave us.” _

Alfor’s bright red presence brushed up against him, passing over knowledge of the planets each lion was to go to, should their paladin fall. And then he was a faint trickle of light, slowly giving way to the void. 

 

Lance came back to himself screaming and Blue roared. All the surrounding Galra ships iced over, dropping like stones. He saw hundreds of ships flee in the cleared path, jumping through portals just big enough for them to get through. His people were fleeing to safety. With the chameleon-like skin of Alteans, they could blend in easily with other races and escape the Galra, should Zarkon continue to hunt for them.

 

He was knocked out of his thoughts as a blow rocked his psych, another part of his soul being ripped from him. It was Grygan. 

 

Lance hated Zarkon. How could he do this? They were family, he was Allura’s godfather, he was Lance’s pseudo-uncle, he was a brother in arms. How could he do this? Lance was reminded harshly of his father’s instructions. He grimaced and reached for the three lions not being piloted right now, giving each of them a set of coordinates. And they all left.

 

_ “Lance.”  _ Trigel spoke, sadness laced through her soul. “ _ What do we do now?”  _

__ He couldn’t respond. How could he? Three fifths of his soul had been taken from him, because Zarkon truly had died in that beam of light from the other realm.  _ “I don't know. I don't-”  _

 

And then he screamed as a shot hit Blue’s flank, lion and paladin tumbling through the air. He grunted and pulled the controls, getting Blue back under control. He turned his sight to what had hit him and saw Zarkon, his Bayard now a large cannon, one fit for an intergalactic war ship. Lance cursed and pulled the controls again, shooting his ion cannon at the shell of his leader. Zarkon easily dodged and fired again, forcing Lance into a barrel roll. 

 

_ “Lance, what's happening?”  _ Trygel sent, worry crossing the bond. 

 

_ “Zarkon found me”  _ Lance gritted out.

 

_ “I'm coming,”  _ she said right away.  _ “Stall him until we can fight him together.” _

 

Lance sent his agreement over the bond, careful to check that Zarkon hadn't felt anything. His quintessence was nowhere near, so all Lance could do was hope that Trygel still had the element of surprise.

 

“Come down here and fight me like a real man!” Zarkon yelled from the ground, yellow eyes glinting. “Like your father did.”

 

Lance growled and turned on the speakers outside Blue. “How dare you do this. We were friends, no, family!” but he knew how Zarkon was capable of this. He had been replaced by a walking husk of evil.

 

Zarkon fired another blast and shouted “Families don't destroy other members’ planets!”

 

Lance’s blood boiled as he pulled another barrel roll. “You were dead! The comet was ripping apart the universe!”

 

He didn't hear Zarkon’s reply as Trygel and Green showed up, ion cannons firing at full capacity. The blasts hit around Zarkon, causing him to jump away. 

 

Lance felt himself sync with Trygel, an experience he knew well, even though Voltron wouldn't be forming. They attacked as one, firing exactly where the other needed and protecting each other’s backs. Galra ships had joined the fray and Zarkon was still firing his terrifying bayard. But it looked like they might subdue him. 

 

Then, Trygel screeched through the bond. Lance turned towards her to see purple lightning racing across Green's armored frame, nearly blowing out some of the outside sensor lights.

 

_ “Trygel!”  _ he screamed, pushing Blue towards her. He felt no response, and was then hit with a feeling he’d become too familiar with. She was gone. He wailed and turned back to Zarkon, fire in his sonic cannon. He knew Galra ears were more sensitive than Alteans’, so just turning the thing on would hurt Zarkon even if he didn't make a direct hit. 

The Galran leader clutched at his ears as the intense sound hit near him, disturbing the ash he was standing on. As he was distracted, Lance sent the coordinates to Green. She had to get out and away from Zarkon. The Green lion was distraught as he reached her, but she followed his instructions anyway and blasted into space, a sonic boom following in her wake.

 

His controls were wrenched from him as Blue took her own dive, avoiding the brunt of the same purple electricity that had taken out Trygel. Even the small blast that caught them raced throughout the cabin, bursting some of the glass in the consoles. A particularly large piece struck Lance in the center of his bicep and he cried out, nearly jerking the controls to the ground. Blue didn't let that happen though, pulling against his spasmed movement. And then he cried out as Zarkon forced his way into his mind. 

 

_ “Little Lance, always cowering behind something. Your father, your gun, and now your lion. But you have nowhere else to run.” _

 

Another hit of the purple lightning glanced off of Blue’s flank and her power flickered, the engines cutting out and dropping her to the ground.

 

_ “Perhaps you'll see your father soon. We both know how he hates being alone. Oh but, I forgot, he's not alone. Many of your people are with him, I'm sure.”  _ Zarkon laugh echoed through his brain and Lance finally fought his way out of Zarkon’s iron grip. 

 

_ “You monster!”  _ he shouted through the bond, anger forming tears in his eyes. “ _ I'll kill you!” _

 

Zarkon laughed again.  _ “We shall see, my little sharpshooter.” _

 

That was too much. The endearing nickname pricked at his hurt soul and he growled, controlling Blue’s descent to the ground instead of fighting it. He wouldn't let this foul creature stand. Blue landed and opened her mouth, concern leaking off her like her element. Lance ignored it, activating his bayard. The familiar weight of his gun comforted him and he opened the hatch and started firing. Zarkon had to dive away from his precise shots, his bayard shrinking as he lost some concentration. Lance kept firing, descending slowly down the ramp. It was almost like a constant laser beam was emitting from his gun as he pulled the trigger faster and faster. 

 

“Still hiding behind that gun?” Zarkon taunted, having found cover. 

 

“No more than you are!” Lance replied, firing at the rock Zarkon was crouching behind. A purple laser beam was the only response he got, though he ignored it. Zarkon was nowhere near his level of skill with long-range weaponry, the blast missing him by three feet. Zarkon sneaked a glance from behind the rock and was met with a face full of laser beam. He bellowed and shot wildly, but Lance got another shot in, hitting Zarkon on the arm this time. The Galran nearly staggered out from the cover of the rock in his pain, but just barely stayed out of the line of fire. Lance almost had him. 

 

Then, the unthinkable happened. A dagger appeared through the side of his stomach and Lance gasped, his laser fire stopping. The blade was pulled out, leaving a purple glow behind. He turned around and found Zarkon’s wife leering at him, blood soaked knife in hand. 

 

“Not you too,” Lance gasped, falling to his knees as he slowly bled out. 

 

She laughed and kneeled with him, ramming the knife very close to the vital artery in his left thigh. “This was surprisingly easy. I was expecting more from a paladin of Voltron.” She withdrew the knife and rammed it once more into his side, this time in between one of his ribs. Lance gasped and blood flew out of his mouth, the pain unbearing. Was this how his father had felt? 

 

“It’s amazing what the residue quintessence from the comet can do, even though it's gone.” She sighed, tracing the glowing purple wound in his abdomen “We’ll just have to make a new tear with Voltron. That way I can access unlimited amounts of quintessence.” 

 

Lance coughed, more blood coating his lips. “You'll never get Voltron” he choked, darkness dancing at the edges of his vision.

 

Then Blue surged to life. Honerva gasped as she looked up at the giant lion and screamed as Blue knocked her away. Lance groaned as she picked him up in her mouth and essentially ate him.

 

“ _ I'm sorry Lance,”  _ she purred to him. “ _ But you need to get to the healing pod.” _ She sent a strong surge through their bond, allowing Lance to gasp and push through the pain, rising to all fours and crawling to the healing pod unfolding from the wall in the corner of the lion. Each inch was agony, but he made it, his blood dripping out everywhere as he did so. More blood crawled up his throat and he coughed it out, pushing himself to his feet to get inside the healing pod. The adrenaline from the fight was still going strong, allowing for one final push to get the door closed. 

 

_ “Blue,”  _ he spoke tiredly as he felt himself succumbing to the pain and the healing pod. “ _ Go to these coordinates. Find the most hidden place you can and just stay there.” _

 

_ “Very well,”  _ she responded.  _ “Sleep well, my paladin.”  _

 

And with that, Lance knew no more. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some info on Lance's past, as well as a meeting of three of our favorite space dorks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Another chapter everyone! I must say I'm having a lot of fun with this, more so than I have in a while. Again with the triggers, the only thing I can come up with is *mention of death/dealing with the death of a loved one. If I've missed any, please point them out. Also, italics can mean the following; thoughts, the past, mental discussion.  
> Enjoy!

_ 5 years ago… _

 

_ The door to Lance’s room opened with a large ‘bang’ and the teenager sat up in his bed, confused at all the noise.  _

 

_ “Lance,” his mother's voice said in the darkness. “Are you up?” _

 

_ The young prince blinked, bleary-eyed,  before realizing she probably couldn't see him. “Yes mother, I'm up.” _

 

_ She nodded and turned on the light, the normally brightly lit crystals adjusted to a low setting so he wouldn’t be blinded. Lance immediately noticed his mother's condition and he hopped out of bed. “What's happened?” _

 

_ She pressed her lips thin. “Blaytz has fallen.” _

 

_ Lance was immediately awake, any trace of sleep gone. “What? But how?” _

 

_ His mother just shook her head. “Alfor has yet to fill me in, but it was a bad fight. Everyone besides Bl-” she cut herself off. “Besides Blaytz is in a healing pod. He just didn't make it in time.” _

 

_ Lance felt lightheaded. The Blue paladin was a source of light and happiness in the castle, and a dear friend to to Altean royal family. For him to be gone not only left forming Voltron impossible but also left a gaping hole in all those who had known him.  _

 

‘He has a wife and kids’  _ Lance thought numbly. ‘ _ Do they know of his fate?’

 

_ His mother walked forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know you were very close to him.” _

 

_ She was right. Lance had been close to him, the prince remembered, almost as if he was experiencing the whole thing outside his body. He remembered late-night talks about girls and the galaxies Voltron saved and how piloting was absolutely amazing. Blaytz had even given rides in the Blue Lion every time it was his or Lance’s birthday, which had been the coolest thing he could ever believe. _

 

_ His mother's hand on his shoulder tightened and Lance was brought back to the present. “Yes, he was my best friend.” He choked up on that and his mother pulled him into and hug, pressing kisses against his hair.  _

 

_ “I'm so sorry,” she whispered as she held him.  _

 

_ Lance’s grief turned to anger. He gritted his teeth in his mother's embrace. “He was too young,” he said, tears leaking out of his eyes. “He had a wife and kids. They need him. The universe needs him.” _

 

_ His mother nodded, still holding him tightly. “I know, I know,” she murmured, sorrow laced through her voice. “If you want, we could go down to the medical bay. I believe they're running through the final checks in his AI.” _

 

_ Lance’s eyes widened. He had forgotten about the memory capsule. “Yes, let's go down.” _

 

_ She nodded and grabbed his hand. The walked down to the medical bay where a soft light was glowing as the doctors worked. And there was Blaytz, looking almost peaceful in death. He was in a capsule so he could be sent to his family; they could hold a proper funeral befitting a warrior of his might. Lance approached numbly, careful to stay out of the doctors’ way as they monitored the last bit of memory gathering that happened after death.  _

 

_ “Hey Blaytz,” Lance said, forcing a smile. “What’s up?” _

 

_ Of course, there was no response, but Lance pushed forward anyway. “Oh, me? Nothing really. Though,” he leaned in conspiratorially. “I stuck a bunch of Fire Flowers in Allura’s soup the other day. You should have seen how red her face got.” _

 

_ From behind him, he could hear his mother’s sigh. Though he couldn’t tell if it was from his antics or his grief.  _

 

_ He kept talking, rambling on about nothing for what must have been vargas until his mother placed a hand on his shoulder. “Lance,” she said softly. “Your father’s out of the healing pod, and he requests your presence.” _

 

_ Lance could only nod numbly as she lead him out of the memory chamber. He let her steer him whereever it was he needed to go, but where that was he couldn’t tell. They finally stopped in front of the large hangar bay doors, though he didn’t know which ones. Frankly, he didn’t care. The large doors opened up and revealed the Blue Lion laying on the ground, her paws tucked underneath her head. Alfor was standing to the side, in rapid discussion with Zarkon. They both stopped talking and turned to him. _

 

_ “Lance.” His father smiled. “It’s good to see you.” _

_ Zarkon nodded, his towering figure slumped somewhat.  _

 

_ Lance got right to the point. “What’s up? Why am I here?” It was a solid question, since they both knew him being with Blue and without Blaytz would hurt.  _

 

_ His father sighed and rubbed at his temple. “Blaytz revealed to all the other Paladins in his death request that he wished for you be tried for the Blue Lion’s next Paladin.” _

 

_ Lance blinked “What?”  _

_ Zarkon stepped forward. “I told your father that maybe we should wait, but Blue is distraught. She won’t function without her Paladin, but she is causing malfunctions with the other Lions as well. They are all affected by her grief, so much so they won’t open for any of the rest of us.” _

 

_ The young prince could only nod. What was he to say to that? The man he thought of as his older brother was gone, and wanted him to be his successor.  _

 

_ Alfor and Zarkon both stepped aside as Lance walked up to Blue, taking in her enourmous size. He wondered if she had somehow grown, or if he had never noticed the sheer force of her with Blaytz leading the way. The Lion’s maw was open, allowing him easy access to the cockpit. He settled in the chair, feeling a sense of wrongness at doing so. Blaytz had never let him even touch the dashboard, much less sit in the chair. He took a deep breath and placed both hands on the thrusters on each side. He waited, and nothing happened. He sighed, letting his head drop. Maybe he wasn’t the person Blaytz wanted him to be.  _

 

_ But then the controls seemed to almost grab onto him and he was overtaken by an overwhelming force. He was swimming against a current, trying to pull free of this riptide force. He was going to drown, he was… still breathing. At the realization he calmed down and let the current take him. It pulled him deeper, but he was unaffected by the pressure of the water, the force now lulling to that of the tide. He sat in the darkness, the water just a creek bed lapping at his heels. He looked up and two glowing yellow eyes lit up in the darkness, a gaping maw roaring in accompaniment. The force of the roar battered his soul. And then Lance was enveloped with this feeling of ‘who are you,’ followed by an enduring memory of Blaytz and a nine year old Lance in her cockpit. No words flowed, but she looked him over again and shoved him out, but not before he felt his soul link with hers. He came back to himself in the pilot seat with a gasp that was echoed by a roar. The presence pushed at him, though not nearly as strong.  _

 

_ ‘Mine,’ it seemed to say, ‘Blaytz and you. Mine.’ _

 

<<<<<<<<<<*********>>>>>>>>>> __

 

It was official. Keith officially hated the Garrison with his entire being. After the press release claiming ‘Pilot Error’ for the Kerberos mission, he had demanded they change it. Shiro was the best pilot in the world, hands down. It was not pilot error, and the least they could do is honor him. But Commander Numb-Nut was of a different view, forcefully shoving him out of his office with a threat of ‘disciplinary actions’ should this type of behavior show again. And so Keith had promptly graffitied the Commander’s office with red spray paint, the words all over everything being “The disrespect of a legend.” He wasn’t one for poetic words, but that hadn’t seemed to help as he had received his suspension papers that afternoon. But that was his goal anyway, so screw them. 

 

He was now currently packing all of Shiro’s remaining belongings into a suitcase with his own, determined to give them back when he found his missing pseudo-older brother, who he could  _ feel _ was alive. There was no evidence pointing to the conclusion that Shiro and the Holts were dead beside the fact that they were gone. But everything was gone, the equipment, the ship, and the crew. Keith was loath to admit it, and he knew he would sound crazy to anyone who listened, but the only thing he could come up with was that they had encountered something extraterrestrial out there. And he wasn’t talking about moon dust. 

 

He slammed his suitcase shut and walked out of his room, turning in his cadet uniform and access card before turning his back on the stupid school forever. As the gates closed behind him, Keith sighed and grabbed his hover bike, strapping the bags to it. There was only one other place he could go. The shack in the desert he’d spent time with his family before they had disappeared. Shiro and him had spent many a night there, arguing about the stars and different ways to pilot the same thing. It was a secret place that Shiro would go to to find him if he somehow made his own way back. Keith revved up the engine and was off, tearing through the streets like a banshee as he disregarded speed limits and road signs. Soon enough, he was in the outskirts of town and heading into the desert. The little house wasn’t too far away so he would be able to access the town for any supplies he might need. 

 

Arriving at the shack brought forth strong memories, but he pushed them back. Now wasn’t the time. He quickly brought his luggage in and stowed them in the little closet. Shiro liked things to be neat, and Keith would make damn well sure they would be when he finally found him. He looked around and suddenly realized he had no plan. “ _ You rush into things,”  _ Shiro said in his mind, causing Keith to shake his head. No, he had a plan, he did. He just wasn’t sure about it yet. So he decided to take inventory. He turned around and looked through the drawers and file cabinets that occupied half the space. He came up with a camera and an energy reader, as well as lots of paper and a small solar charged laptop that came with a printer. He shrugged and grabbed the energy reader and a water bottle. There. Now he had a plan. Go into the desert waving this thing around and see if anything happens. He straddled his bike and sped off into the desert valley. It wasn’t like he had anything else better to do. 

 

_ 3 months later… _

 

Keith pulled into town, a knapsack on his shoulder. He needed a new water filter, and more food. And more printer paper. The readings he'd been finding in the desert were odd and took lots of paper, as did as the camera. ‘ _ And,’  _ he thought as he parked his bike ‘ _ maybe I should think about starting a garden. _ ’ The house had a well outside, and his money was running out. He shook his head and got off the bike. Garden later, shop now. He walked into the grocery store and went straight for the non-perishables, knowing from experience that if it wasn’t canned then the rats would eat it before he could turn around to kill them. He sighed and put a little basket thing on his arm, filling it up with anything that looked semi-nutritious. He mentally kept track of the amount each can was, considering he only had 100 dollars in spare change and he still needed that new filter on his tap, the piece of broken junk. He mentally calculated how much money he would walk away with.  _ ‘Yeah, maybe I should start a garden,”  _ he thought, scrunching up his nose.  _ ‘Or get a job.’ _

 

He had just grabbed the last can he could before turning to find the seeds of some vegetable when he was bowled over by a tiny mass of green leather. His canned goods spilled everywhere and he felt his temper flare at the sight. Great, now he had to pick this mess up. “What do you think you were doing?” he asked, turning to find the thing that had ran into him. He was shocked as he took the sight in. “Wait, Matt?”

 

The green leather mass in question turned a sharp head to him, eyes flashing. “What? How do you know Matt?”

 

From the other aisle a deep voice called out “Pidge? Where’d you go man?”

Keith was confused. “How do  _ you _ know Matt?”

 

Pidge, as he assumed the green mass was called, blushed and looked away, mumbling something incoherent. 

 

A large young adult rounded the corner, bandana wrapped around his forehead. He stopped short at the sight greeting him. “Uh...hi.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him and huffed, standing up. He grabbed his grocery basket thing where it had fallen and started filling it back up with the cans scattered across the aisle. 

 

“Let me help,” Pidge said, getting up and grabbing the cans farthest away before he could protest. Pidge’s friend joined in, and they soon had all the cans back in the basket. Then they all stood awkwardly before Keith noticed the big guy look more closely at him. “Wait, aren’t you that Keith kid?”

 

Keith looked away. “Yeah, what of it?” 

 

The big guy looked away. “Nothing. It's just no one's seen you for a while.” He looked thoughtful before offering offering a hand. “I'm Hunk.” 

 

The name tickled Keith’s memory and he frowned. “Engineer right? Mr Davidson, Physics 1050?” 

 

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, I remember that.”

 

Silence fell again and Keith adjusted his basket. “Well, I need to grab more...stuff.” He was awkward with people in general, sue him. 

 

“Yeah, we need to, too,” Hunk responded. “Nice seeing you.” 

 

Keith nodded and headed down the aisle, away from the two cadets. Pidge still hadn't answered his question about Matt, but he hadn't answered his question either, so they were probably good. 

 

The rest of his grocery run was fairly uneventful, in the sense that it wasn't slammed into by a tiny person again. He had some trouble finding the right filter for his tap, and he just grabbed a bunch of seed packets. Maybe he'd get lucky and one of them would grow.

 

There was something off about going back to his shack though. Not much could keep up with his bike, but a few things could. And he knew of a few military vehicles that could, but he had seen no one behind him in the desert. The feeling of being watched followed him all the way to the hut, but when he pulled out his binoculars and checked everything from his higher vantage point, he saw nothing. Shrugging, he walked back inside, aware of his knife in its sheath at his waist.

 

The rest of the day was spent installing the new water filter and stacking all his new paper. He would deal with the garden tomorrow, since the sun was setting. Now was time for wandering the desert, as it was far more comfortable during the night to do so.

 

His ears pricked as a scuffling sort of snort sounded outside. Instantly aware, he walked to the door, knife in hand.  _ ‘If I open the door fast enough, I can surprise whoever’s out there.’ _

 

Hoping that the noise was just an animal and he wasn't about to be greeted with guns in his face, he pulled the door as fast as he could, knife held defensively. He was shocked; however, to come face to face with Hunk and Pidge from the grocery store.

 

“Umm, hi?” Hunk said, eyeing the knife in Keith’s hands. “We mean you no harm?”

 

Keith snorted “You know you’re trespassing on my property right? I could just gut you right here and it wouldn’t technically be illegal.” 

 

Hunk blanched, but Pidge just shoved past him, coming into Keith’s space. “You knew Shiro, didn’t you!” he said, poking Keith in the chest, which would have made Keith smile at the size difference, but right now he was just annoyed. “Everyone knows Shiro,” Keith chose to respond, stepping back and putting his knife in its sheath at his waist. 

 

Pidge narrowed his eyes. “No, I mean you  _ knew  _ him.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him. “How do you know that?”

 

Pidge looked over his shoulder at Hunk, who was still standing in the doorway. He sighed and pushed his oddly cut hair out of his face, almost as if he were to put it in a pony tail. Keith raised an eyebrow, and Pidge raised his in return. 

 

“Okay,” Keith sighed, crossing his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

Hunk looked at the pair. “Pidge, what are you doing?”

 

Keith’s gaze went to Hunk, then back to Pidge. Then he noticed something. Pidge was still holding his hair back, and Keith though he looked  _ awfully _ familiar. Realization hit him as it suddenly clicked. “Wait, Kaite?” 

 

Shiro had spent a lot of time with the Holts, especially before the mission. He had even brought Keith along to one of their lunches. The Holts had been super fun, the family bickering casually with one another over some silly thing or another. He could tell that they loved each other, and had been insanely jealous. The one person he hadn’t seen much of had been Katie. The Holts’ youngest had spent most of her time in her room, despite her mother’s plea to come eat with them. But Katie had responded with something about finishing up a delicate project and Mrs. Holt had let it slide. Keith had only seen a glance of her as he walked out the door, and she probably hadn’t seen any of him, so it made sense neither had recognized the other on first sight.

 

Hunk looked confused. “Who’s Katie?”

 

Pidge- _ no- _ Katie looked at her friend and quirked her eyebrows “Can you keep a secret?”

 

<<<<<*****>>>>>

 

Turns out Hunk and Katie had been curious enough about his current living status that the pair had followed Keith out into the desert on a pimped up ATV. They had followed his tracks,  _ -I knew I should have covered them up- _ , and had been able to track him up to his shack. Apparently, Katie had recognized him after all and had been adamant about finding out more about him. Hunk had been confused about why Pidge was Katie, but the spunky girl had outlined how she had been banned from the Garrison as Katie Holt so she had taken on the persona of Pidge Gunderson to find out more about the Kerberos mission. She, like Keith, didn’t believe the ‘pilot error’ press release by the Garrison.

 

“So, what have you been doing out here for three months?” Hunk asked, looking at the readings Keith had found and the pictures of the strange cave drawings he’d found.

 

Keith shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t have a lot of resources. You had the better idea Katie,” he said, turning to the girl who was now looking over his readings.

The girl in question shrugged. “It’s Pidge for now, and yeah, I did have the better idea.” She turned to him, glasses glinting in the setting sun. “I mean, how on Earth did you think this would work out?”

 

Keith shrugged, mentally noting  _ Pidge for now _ . “Honestly, I just needed to get out of that school before I accidently throttled someone.”

 

She shook her head and turned back to the picture of a mountain range and the lines drawn out across the map. Hunk was reaching for a drawer that held Shiro’s clothes, to which Keith promptly grabbed his hand. “Don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to.”

 

Hunk held up his hands in surrender. “Okay man, I won’t.” 

 

Keith nodded and turned his attention back to Pidge. She was standing farther away from the map and had a finger tapping on her chin. She finally pulled back and sighed. “Okay, I don’t know what I’m looking at. This here,” she pointed to a cave drawing that seemed to say ‘Voltron’ but could maybe say Biltrau. Neither made sense, so it didn’t really matter. “Is in no language I recognize, and has no relation to anything I’ve seen.” She sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “I’m almost into the deep space probe orbiting Titania, which is far enough into space it can send and receive signals as far as four galaxies away. Once I get into that, I think we’ll have more information.” She turned to Keith. “I don’t know how much these energy readings relate to anything, but they certainly aren’t anything that has been recorded by Earth. I think you should still scout out the area and see what you can find.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You can’t tell me what to do.” Though he knew Pidge knew Shiro, he still didn’t like ordered much from people he didn’t personally know well.

 

Pidge huffed and put her hands on her hips. “Or you can just sit here and stare at the wall.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, and she continued. “So, how about I record everything I can get off the satellite and you keep doing whatever it is you’re doing out here. Once a week, we’ll meet up and compare readings. Sound good?”

 

Keith turned his gaze to Hunk, who was still a major unknown in the whole thing. He didn’t know anything about this guy, except that he was amazing with numbers and could fix just about anything. “Are you gonna be a problem?” he asked, crossing his arms. 

 

Hunk looked surprised at the sudden attention on him, but he shook his head. “No. Nope. No sir-y. I don’t want anything to do with that knife you waved at me.” He smiled. “And Pidge is my friend. I won’t rat him-no. I won’t rat  _ her _ out.”

 

Pidge beamed, and Keith sighed. He then extended a hand the the girl. “Looks like we’ve got a deal.” 

She grinned and took his hand. “I look forward to our partnership.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what'd you guys think? This chapter's a little longer, but I could have gone for more. I'm wondering on what you all would prefer. Little bit shorter chapters at faster update rates, or longer chapters not coming out as often? Anywho, some explaining on my part.  
> -Keith leaving the garrison. Now I know we haven't seen how he gets suspended, but I think it went something like this. If we see how he left in season 4, then I guess my fic will be more canon defiant than it already is.  
> -Hunk and Pidge. Look guys, I absolutely love Pidge with all my heart. She's my 2nd favorite, so I'm doing the best I can with character representation. In fact, I'm doing my best with all the character representation. If you feel like something's off, I accept consecutive criticism, but don't be mean about it.  
> That should be it for now. See you next update!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! So here's another chapter, full on moving on with the plot, I think. Again, not beta-read, so if any mistakes are noticed then alert me.  
> Trigger warnings-This chapter is pretty lowkey. The only thing I can think of is heights and the description of freefall if anyone's not good with that. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Keith was currently standing in the cave with strange hieroglyphs; he was taking more pictures of the half glowing markings and symbols per Pidge’s request. Astoundingly, they never seemed to glow when Pidge and Hunk were in the cave with him, which didn't make any sense to Keith. Every time he was here alone, they were glowing, the faint light barely lighting up the dark. 

 

He snapped another picture and sighed, letting the camera fall to dangle around his neck. Ignoring the tourist-y feeling of the device against his chest, he carefully took a seat next to a particularly fine graphic of what appeared to be a gun perched on a high cliff. Opening up the saved pictures on the camera, he looked through them to make sure they were ‘Pidge perfect’. The last time he had delivered unsatisfactory photos, she had been less that pleased. 

 

Keith leaned his head against the wall and felt and smile tug his lips. Pidge and Hunk were actually pretty fun to hang out with, despite the fact there was a frantic desperation lacing the undercurrents of their interactions. But with their help, Keith actually felt like he was getting closer to figuring out where the Kerberos mission had gone. Plus, the human contact was something he wouldn't admit he missed, especially since this was the sixth month of the Holts’ and Shiro’s disappearance. But the quirky engineer and spunky computer wizard had grown on him, enough so that he looked forward not just to the information they brought, but their company as well.

 

He closed his eyes and let himself relax just a little. The cave air was pleasantly cool, much more so than the desert sun outside. The grainy texture of the sandstone was rough but almost soft, or at least as soft as his bed. He settled a little more against the wall. Maybe a short nap…

 

A bright blue light flooded his vision and his eyes shot open as the ground he was sitting on rumbled. He jumped up, knife drawn, before the rocks beneath him fell away, dumping him into a freefall.

 

“What the HELLL,” he shouted, his stomach upside down at the surprise flight. Hitting damp stone after about five seconds, he rolled for a bit before coming to a stop near a luminescent puddle. Groaning, he got to his hands and knees before looked around. “What?”

 

The object of his confusion was none other than a large, metallic, blue lion. It sat regally in a glowing sky blue dome, the metal of the cat highlighted by silver. It had yellow tinted eyes, as well as sharp, white teeth that glinted in the dark cave. Keith rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming and looked again. Nope, there was still a large glowing blue lion sitting in a damp cave he had mysteriously fallen into. 

 

Gingerly getting to his feet, he checked himself over for any injuries, wincing from slight pain emitting near his ankle.  _ “I probably rolled it,”  _ he thought, shaking it out.  _ “Yeah, just a roll.” _ Shiro had trained him in basic field medical knowledge, enough to know the difference between something major and something painful. This, luckily, was the latter.

 

Keith walked over to the complex-looking light dome, putting his hands against it. It was unyielding, and seemed to vibrate with energy. The build of it brought to mind something Shiro had told him about; a government force field project that for all he knew was still going on. There hadn't been much success on a real breakthrough though, making Keith wonder what they would do to get their hands on this tech. He pressed harder against the light; still no budge. 

 

“Huh,” he exclaimed, stepping back. He took in the whole picture again and chuckled. “I guess that explains the blue crap everywhere.” The lion was the same color as the cave drawings, not even a shade off. 

 

He approached it again, grabbing his knife from where it had clattered out of his hands and into a shallow pond. He carefully wiped it off on his shirt and placed the edge of it against the light and slashed quickly, the blade tempting sparks of light off the barrier. This got a reaction; the lion's eyes sparked to a bright yellow for a moment, and he could almost swear he heard a roar. He stumbled back, but the moment was already over, the lion once again dormant. 

 

_ “What is this?” _ he wondered, knife held up in a defensive position. The lion just sat there, still looking foreign and unknown, but inanimate. Keith slowly lowered his knife and tucked it back into its sheath, turning to look at where he had fallen through. There was a hole in the cavern that let a trickle of light through, the edges jagged and uneven. He sighed and scoped out the wall leading up to it. Doable, and not deadly, as he had already proven. Keith scrunched at his nose and pulled at his jacket before taking a breath and approaching the wall. He wouldn’t make any sense of this lion alone, and he wouldn’t last long here without more provisions. It was Wednesday, so Pidge and Hunk wouldn't know he was gone until Saturday. He placed one hand on the wall, and then the other as he made up his mind, his feet following suit as he pulled himself up, getting good grips for all limbs. He looked up to the top and shook his head before going for the next handhold, a small ledge near his hand. 

 

He climbed up the wall with minimal difficulty because of the porous build of the sandstone and the many ledges. As he pulled himself up through the hole he had fallen through, it almost felt like the lion was watching him.

 

<<<<<*****>>>>>

 

“Keith!”

 

Keith was surprised as he opened the door to his shack and saw Pidge and Hunk already there. 

 

“What are you guys doing here?” he asked, getting over his shock and maneuvering past Hunk as he reached for a cup and started filling it. 

 

“Well, you know how I hooked onto the satellite orbiting Titania?” Pidge said, sitting down on the dingy couch and pulling out a tricked out laptop as well as a bunch of large electronic things, connecting them as they went. 

 

Keith nodded, and she continued. “I've been monitoring all the data received and today communication signals showed up.”

 

“What?” Keith said, nearly choking on his water. “Communication signals as in our radio waves?”

 

She shook her head. “Nope.”

 

“The wave lengths are acting the same way long-distance radio waves do,” Hunk chimed in, hands in his pockets. “Whatever kind of frequencies these are, they definitely aren't ours.”

 

“Mm-hmm,” Pidge said, pulling up a screen on her computer. “And guess what’s being said.”

 

There was a moment of silence and Keith scrunched his nose. “Do you want me to actually guess or…”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes. “No, I don't want you to actually guess. Anyway,” she typed something in her screen and looked back up at him. “Voltron. It's the only word I can make out, but I've got a program running through all the other noise. It’s said repeatedly, so it definitely isn’t a fluke.”

 

Hunk pulled out something from the electronics bag and held it up. “This is a sensor I designed to trace that funky element you’ve been picking up. It's more delicate than the piece of outdated garbage you have now.” He smiled, eyes twinkling. “And since we found that Voltron word in that cave, I think we should start there.”

 

The mention of the cave abruptly reminded Keith why he wasn't there. “Oh, well, yeah. I was just there and,” he scratched at the back of his head. “I kind of fell into a hole and landed in this huge cavern that had a giant mechanical lion surrounded by a force field sitting in it.”

 

They both seemed to be surprised, but Pidge shook it off first. “A force field!?”

 

“A giant mechanical lion!?” Hunk said.

 

Keith nodded. “Yup. It was blue.”

 

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Of course! That explains the cave drawings and the weird blue glow.”

 

Hunk shook his head. “Okay, I'm still a bit held up on the giant blue lion. How giant we talking? Big enough to eat us in one bite?”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Well yeah, I guess. But it's not alive, so why would it eat us?”

 

Hunk waved his arms, nearly knocking over several things in the small space. “I don't know, it's a giant lion. Anything could happen!”

 

“Never mind that!” Pidge exclaimed. “We need to go see it! Maybe it's Voltron!”

 

Keith hadn't even thought of that. “Maybe.” He wasn't so sure. The Voltron drawing had seemed more outgoing. And the cave drawing next to it definitely hadn’t been a lion.

 

Pidge frantically got up, untangling herself from the wires she had been sitting on. “Well then let's go!” She shoved a few things into a different bag and threaded it onto her arms.

 

Hunk grabbed his modified energy reader, holding it up. “Will we need this?” Pidge snatched at it before he could say anything else and shoved it in her bag. 

 

Keith shook his head. “No, but we will need this.” He walked across the room and opened a drawer, grabbing the coil of rope he and Shiro had used when they went rock climbing that one time. He slung it over his shoulder and looked the two. “Shall we?”

 

“We shall,” Pidge affirmed, adjusting her glasses. 

 

“I'm still concerned it might eat us,” Hunk stated “but at the same time, I do like cats normally. But they hate Pidge,” the girl snorted “so I have to make sure I'm the middle man between the two.” 

 

Keith smiled. “Then let's go!”

 

They all got on his bike and held on as he revved it up. Soon they were flying across the desert sand, a small trail getting kicked up at the disturbance. The rock formations where the cave was located at came into view just as the sun was beginning to set, the sky a mixture of orange and purple.

 

“Hey, those formations look like the wavelength the energy reading has!” Hunk shouted over the wind.

 

Keith revved the engine, the extra gas speeding up the bike. “Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder!” He leaned the bike a little, making it turn down a sand dune. “Hopefully it'll make sense in the end!”

 

The bike coasted down the hill, coming to a stop at the bottom. Pidge jumped off first, her boots causing a puff of sand to rise. Keith and Hunk followed suit, all three turning to the cave.

 

“Come on,” Keith said, adjusting the rope coil on his shoulder. They all walked forward, Keith taking lead. 

 

“Wow,” Pidge said as they entered. “I knew they glowed from your pictures, but it's different in person.” The hieroglyphs were lit up, each drawing glowing brighter than Keith had seen them do before. He led them to the hole he had fallen through, a faint light able to be seen at the bottom. Keith shrugged off the rope and tied it to a nearby boulder. He tested it, leaning backwards and pulling as hard as he could before standing back up. “Okay, who wants to go first?”

 

Pidge scoffed. “Like you have to ask.” She took the rope from the ground and threw it down the hole before climbing down to a ledge near the top of it. She grabbed onto the now swinging rope and carefully started repelling/walking herself down to the bottom. “Wow! This is amazing!” The rope went slack as she let go. “It really is a lion!”

 

Keith chuckled and looked at Hunk. “Would you like to go next?”

 

Hunk smiled nervously. “Ah, ladies first?”

 

“Age before beauty,” Keith responded, crossing his arms.

 

Hunk shot him a look. “I'm pretty sure we're the same age.” He walked to the hole and repeated what Pidge had done. “Just in case you didn't know.”

 

Keith shrugged. “I know.”

 

Hunk nodded and began repelling. “Fair enough.” He got to the bottom soon, followed by an exclamation of “Pidge! Don't touch it!”

 

Keith grabbed the rope himself and let it slide through his gloves, the heat from the friction barely making it through the sturdy material. He made it to the bottom with much less fanfare than last time. Everything looked the same; besides Pidge and Hunk standing in front of the giant beast. “I told you.” he said, walking up to them. “Blue lion surrounded by a force field.”

 

“Yeah, but you didn't tell me how absolutely amazing it is!” Pidge exclaimed, a grin splitting her face as she reached into her knapsack and pulled out Hunk’s energy reader. She started walking all around it, the reader beeping like crazy. “Seriously, this is awesome!”

 

Keith smiled at her enthusiasm and walked up to the force field. “It's not like the movies at all.” He reached his hand forward. “No throwback or anything.” His fingers brushed against the barrier, feeling the vibrations off it like last time. “See? Nothing-” he was cut off as it disappeared; the white-blue glow receding while the lion stood up on its paws and roared. 

 

“Holy cow it’s gonna eat us!” Hunk shrieked, covering his head with his arms. “Please don’t eat us!”

“Do eat us!” Pidge yelled in excitement. “Then I can see how your insides work!”

 

The lion’s eyes flashed yellow, like Keith thought they had when he had slashed the barrier, and it sat down again, its head dropping to the ground as its maw opened, revealing a ramp to go inside. 

 

“Whoa.” Keith stood up from the defensive crouch he’d dropped into. “It definitely didn’t do that last time.”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag, putting the energy reader back in and grabbing something else that beeped and had flashing lights. Keith felt like he had seen it before, but he had never payed as much attention in Digital Electronics as he should have. “Let’s go.”

 

“Go where.” Hunk said, putting his arms down. “Go in there?”

 

“Well where else would we go?” Pidge huffed, turning to Keith. “Onwards?”

 

“Might as well,” Keith stated, putting his hands in his pockets. “We’ve come this far.”

 

She nodded and promptly turned, heading right up the ramp. Keith had to scramble to catch up to her, while Hunk had to run. The three walked up into the lion. The whole thing lit up with blue tiny blue lights embedded in the wall where it met the ground.

 

“This is amazing!” Pidge exclaimed, stopping and running her hands across the matt grey metal of the wall. “The craftsmanship of this is like nothing I’ve ever seen!” Hunk joined her, looking at a part of the wall where there appeared to be to panels meeting. “Agreed,” he said, putting his eye right next to it. “The seams here are so fine, I can barely see them, much less feel them.” They both pulled away from the wall, Hunk looking much more excited than before. “Let’s go!” 

 

Keith smiled at their enthusiasm. “There’ll probably more stuff to see the farther in we walk.”

 

They kept walking up the ramp, the floor leveling out into what appeared to be some sort of cargo bay. Hunk nearly tripped over himself as he spotted something Keith couldn’t, dropping to his knees in the middle of the room. “I can’t believe this. It looks like the floor opens up for drops, but look at how fine it closes!” 

 

Pidge squatted beside him and put her finger on the floor. “I think you’re right Hunk. There’s little latch-type hooks here in the seam, suggesting a tightly formed floor when closed, but something that can open up when prompted to.” She stood up and wandered to the corner of the room. “Wait, there’s something here.” 

 

Keith walked over to her, observing what she saw. It was a console, or what appeared to be one, sitting flush against the wall. Pidge reached up to poke a button near the bottom left and the room lit up with bright blue lights, the emergency lights dimming in the full light. The console was now alight, strange markings projected outwards from the vertical screen. 

 

“Oh, tell me more.” Pidge purred, reaching up to poke at the projection. This time the floor rumbled like it was going to open, Hunk jumping up quickly as it vibrated. But then the thing Pidge had touched blinked red while a pop-up appeared, again in the strange markings. 

 

“Um, could you please stop poking at the unknown probably alien tech aboard the probably alien ship?” Hunk said, coming over to stand by them. “We literally know nothing about this.” 

 

“Oh, shush you,” Pidge replied, poking a finger at him. “‘The only source of knowledge is experience’ if I remember correctly.” 

 

Hunk rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, Albert Einstein wasn’t fiddling around with a giant unknown object that could, for all we know, crush us inside of it and not get hurt itself.”

 

“Meh.” She shrugged, looking back towards the projections. “Hmm, this one looks promising.” She reached for a smaller looking circle that had a symbol of what looked a bit like something on fire, tapping its center. Immediately, the ship ramp behind them closed and the lion felt like it stood up, judging by the way the floor suddenly moved. 

 

“Oh great, now you made it mad!” Keith exclaimed, arms extended for balance. The lion stopped moving; however, the floor once again leveling out. And then a part of the wall slid open, a glowing blue pod thing sliding out on a track that flipped up from the floor. It came out just enough to clear where it had been, the door behind it closing again. 

 

Keith, Pidge and Hunk all stood wide-eyed as it stopped moving, the light inside dimming enough to make out a figure. “Okay, what is that?” Hunk asked, breaking the silence. 

 

Keith shook himself back into function and walked forward, peering into the glass-like structure. “I don’t know. I can’t really see inside.” He leaned back and shrugged off his jacket, covering his gloved hand with it, before reaching forward. The jacket made contact with the pod and it immediately opened, a hiss of steam accompanying the lifting of the glass. Keith only had a second to adjust to what had just happened before a body fell into his arms, making him gasp at the sudden weight. 

 

“Keith!” Pidge and Hunk both shouted, rushing forward. Keith just stood there, stunned at the sight now in his arms. It was a boy, or maybe a man, with white hair and cocoa powder colored skin. Under his eyes were tiny crescent moon shapes, blue in color, and almost glowing. His ears were pointed, and one of them had a blue cuff on near the point, a small chain connecting it to a blue stud in his lobe. 

 

“Whoa,” Hunk said, leaning in. “It that, is that an alien?” 

Pidge smacked him on the arm. “Of course it is! Have you ever seen someone who looks like that walking around on Earth?”

 

Keith’s arms tensed as the boy suddenly gasped and jerked forward, nearly knocking Keith in the head. The alien’s  _ blue _ eyes were open but unseeing, until he groaned and pulled away from Keith, hands going to his side where Keith noticed a cut in the uniform he was wearing. 

 

“Püąẹllera.” He gasped, looking at them. “Vᄃerliañ? Hic-tölen!” A gun appeared in his left hand with a flash of blue, causing Keith to jump back, pulling Pidge with him. Hunk took the cue and stepped back as well. “Okay, wow, so yeah, he’s an alien.”

 

The white haired boy grimaced at Hunk’s words, a hand reaching up to the cuff on his ear. He tapped at it then straightened up, one hand going back to cover the large tear in his outfit, the other still holding his gun.  He looked past them, then around him, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the console. The gun disappeared as fast as it had appeared, the boy turning around to face the lit up display. He noticed the red icon and shot a dirty look back at the trio. “Brïџtza!” 

 

Pidge lifted an eyebrow. “Umm, sorry?”

 

The alien shook his head and tapped at the projection, his fingers carefully pulling up a different screen that he promptly swept away, the red pop up on the original screen no longer present. Keith put his jacket back on as this went on, almost getting run over as the boy turned around and brushed past them, walking up another ramp. 

 

“Do we follow him?” Pidge asked, before shaking her head. “Actually, I don’t care what you guys are doing. I’m following him.” She turned to follow the alien, but not before Keith grabbed her arm. 

“Just wait for a sec, okay?” he said, composing himself. He looked to Hunk and then back to Pidge who was wearing an unimpressed expression on her face. “Okay, it’s been a ‘sec’. Let's go!” she tugged at his grip, impatience clearly evident.

 

He sighed and let go, falling in step behind her. Hunk followed after, bringing up the rear as they all walked up the incline, more and more screens appearing the farther up they went. They reached the crest and Keith gasped, taking in multiple projections as well as a well lit cockpit and yellow tinted widows. “ _ Those must be the eyes”  _  he thought, comparing them to the mental picture in his head of the lion standing up.

 

“It’s a ship,” Pidge breathed, taking in everything. “It’s a freaking lion ship.”

 

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem very aerodynamic. How would it maneuver in atmospheres?” Hunk said, nearly drooling at the mechanics of the room. 

 

Pidge turned to him and scrunched her nose. “Well, cheetahs are actually very aerodynamic, and if this ship had enough power in the thrusters it could probably fly just fine.”

 

Hunk nodded. “True, but the power that would take would be more than what a nuclear power plant generates in 6 months. But if that wasn’t a factor, then I guess that makes sense.”

 

“Bregrägly. Bregrägly!” 

 

Their attention was brought to the boy sitting in the pilot seat, though they couldn’t see him. A sound almost like a sob echoed through the cockpit and the boy stood up, his head in his hands. “Bregrägly.” 

 

“Umm” Pidge said, stepping closer. “Are you okay?”

 

Hunk approached with her, albit slower. “You know he can’t understand you right?” 

 

“Well yeah,” she replied, turning to look at him. “But tone of voice can be understood universally, right?” 

 

They all started as the boy turned sharply to look at them, his blue eyes sharp and wet. He winced and poked at his ear cuff again before shaking his head. He looked up towards the ceiling. “Brüsha, eh?” 

 

The ship/lion roared in response and it seemed like he wanted to smile. He didn’t though, instead curling his hands into fists and glancing in their direction again. He shook his head before sighing and walking around the chair, slowly approaching the three. Keith tensed as he got closer, but the boy walked loosely, no ounce of threat in his walk. He stopped in front of Keith and sighed. “Umm.” He looked at Keith, raising an eyebrow. 

 

Keith could feel both Pidge and Hunk’s eyes on him and he swallowed. “Hi?” 

 

The boy blinked and tapped at his cuff again. “Hi?”

 

“I think he’s trying to understand us.” Pidge said, poking at Keith. 

 

“Well what am I supposed to say?” Keith responded, looking down at her. She sighed and shook her head before turning to the boy. “Hi,” she started, placing a hand on her chest. “I’m Pidge.” She pointed to Hunk. “That’s Hunk.” She poked Keith. “And this is Keith.”

 

The boy followed her movements with his eyes before gesturing with his hand. “Hunk.” Hunk nodded. “Pigde.” She smiled. “Keith.” Keith crossed his arms. The boy put his hand on his chest. “Lance, lϊąk Altea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? They met Lance, how'd that go? I tried to not rush anything, but please let me know if I went to slow. No one likes something that takes to long. Now, we're six months into Shiro's captivity, incase anyone wanted confirmation on where we're at in correlation to that. No, no one's blasting off to space until Shiro gets here, so rest assured. Now, on the strange gibberish Lance was speaking in. Obviously, Altea doesn't speak English, as seen when Pidge tries to learn Altean. I tried to follow the style of the two words we heard there, as well as anything else in the show. The cuff on Lance's ear will be explained in the future, though I bet some of you already know what it is. 
> 
> I'm gonna try to start moving along into less exposition and more action and plot now we've met Lance. See you next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that took longer than I expected it would. Hopefully I can settle into a more predictable update rate but hey, life happens.  
> Major thanks to DandyPony for beta-ing.  
> Enjoy!

_ “It’s time to wake up.” _

 

_ “But why? It's so warm here. There is no pain here, or betrayal. Who betrayed me again?” _

 

_ “It was our head.” There was sorrow there. “But I cannot sense him. He is not here.” A pause. “Please, little one. We have been dormant for too long.” _

 

_ He sighed. He didn't want to go back into the world, but he would if she insisted. _

 

_ “I do insist. Now be brave.” _

 

_ “I will try. You know I'm always better when standing beside you.” _

 

_ A reassuring rumble was all he got in response. _

 

_ <<<<<*****>>>>> _

 

When Lance fell out of the healing pod, he was immensely disoriented. There were arms to catch him and Blue’s steady presence, but something felt off. She wasn't worried much, but he could feel an underlying current thrumming in the back of his conscience.

 

_ “Why would she be worried?”  _ he wondered, eyes still closed. “ _ Father has me, and the healing pod has done its job.” _

 

But then he remembered with a sharp gasp what had happened. The fight, the betrayal,  _ Zarkon _ . Lance rocked forward, half-heartedly aiming to hit whoever was holding him with his head. If it had all been a dream and he was safe in a loved one's arms, it would be easy for them to dodge. If it wasn't, even a weak Altean headbutt could take out most known species.

 

Whoever had caught him as he fell jerked back, avoiding his attempt. Lance opened his eyes and for a moment he could only see Altea on fire while Honerva’s blade stabbed into his side. He grimaced, his hand going to the wound while he backed away with a groan, but nothing was there except for a faint scar he could trace with his fingers. And then he blinked, the grisly scene fading away to the inside of Blue’s cargo bay, three people standing in front of him with various expressions of surprise and intensity. 

 

Immediately he was put into a fight or flight mindset. They looked Altean, except for the ears. “ _ Maybe I’m just hallucinating _ ,” he thought desperately. “ _ Perhaps we won and Altea survived.”  _ He decided to go for it, hoping beyond hope he was in the castle. “Allura? Father?”

 

The people in front of him didn't respond beside confusion, and Lance’s hope crumbled. He was not on Altea, and these weren’t Alteans. “Where am I?” 

 

When no response was given he pulled out his bayard, the gun a familiar weight in his hand. He didn’t raise it, but all three stepped back, the largest one saying something that caused the translator to fritz out. Lance grimaced and reached up to adjust the thing before standing up straighter.  _ “Focus on the situation Lance!”  _ His sister’s enduring words echoed through his mind, stabbing him near the heart. He pushed away the pain, shaking his head and turning around to the console behind him. Immediately the red pop-up caught his eye. 

 

“Cargo bay door unlock unsuccessful. Master key needed,” it stated, still flashing red. Lance shot a look behind him at the creatures who had  _ obviously _ touched Blue. “Don’t touch!” he said, keeping the words short. They couldn’t understand him, but hey, communication’s a two way street. He rolled his eyes and dismissed the pop-up, turning to get to the bridge. He brushed past the one in red -  _ Father -  _ and ignored the feelings the color brought up. He settlied into the chair, the familiar stance welcome in the unknown setting. 

 

“Okay Blue, what we got,” he said, waving his hands over the projection screen. The well-known images popped up, revealing everything was in working fashion. He smiled. “Looks like you got as good of a nap as I did.” 

 

A rumbling chuff echoed through the link, though Lance could tell she was still concerned for him. He smiled and patted the arm rest. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He looked back at the screens. “Now let’s see if we can figure out how long we were out, as well as where we are.” He tapped at a few of the projections, bringing up the automatic ship logs. They update themselves every deca-phoeb, providing a fairly accurate log if out of commission for very long. Lance tapped at the most recent ones, eyes scanning the logs as he heard the natives of whatever planet he was on come into the bridge. They were tuned out however, as he took in the shear number of logs. He scrolled and scrolled, the page seeming to be never ending. He had expected three, maybe four logs. Not the sheer amount of dates that didn't seem to stop. “No,” he said, passing the 5,000 mark. He scrolled the projection faster, nearly frantic as the screen  _ kept going _ . And then, it stopped, a glaring, horrible number taking up his whole vision. Ten thousand deca-phoebs. That was the amount of annual ship logs recorded. Ten thousand. He couldn’t breathe, putting his head in his hands as he stood up. “No. No!” He choked on a sob, Blue trying to send reassurance through the bond. His family was gone, because how could they have survived? Time won out in the end. His father’s lingering quintessence had passed fully into the void, as had all the other paladins. He hadn’t even noticed it when he woke up, but he did now. The hole they left behind was immense and terrible, nearly swallowing him. His sister and Coran were gone. All his friends, dead. He was alone. He felt tears collect in his eyes. “No…”

 

“Umm…” That was all the translator picked up, bringing Lance back to the present. He turned to the natives who were all watching him, the smallest one approaching carefully. He, or maybe she, made some remark to its companions before looking back at him. Lance grimaced and poked at the translator again. It was having a rough time picking up the completely foreign language, just catching bits and pieces, then broadcasting static. He looked back at the natives and sighed, making a decision. He didn’t want to go back into space right now, the memory’s of any stars with darkness in between feeling like too much to fathom.  _ “Compartmentalize,”  _ he scolded himself.  _ “Assess the situation at hand. _ ”

 

He shook himself and walked around the chair, approaching the trio. He made sure to broadcast ‘no threat’ as he walked towards them; the one with a red jacket and black hair looked like he knew combat. Lance had no intention of getting in a fight today, especially after everything he'd realized. He stopped just out of reach of the group deciding to start with the only word he knew. “Umm…” 

 

The one with the red jacket looked to his companions and looked back at him. “Umm, hi?” Lance fiddled with his translator again. It hadn’t had this much trouble since that one mission with the space goo. Zarkon’s- _ No, Betrayer’s-  _ translator had been on the fritz with the natives unnatural hissing sounds, almost worse than Lance’s current predicament. His attention was brought back to the present as the tiny one exclaimed something to the one in red, before turning to him. 

 

“Hi,” he was gonna go with she for now, said. She placed her hand on her chest. “-- Pidge.” Lance nodded, getting the gist of it, and she continued. “That’s Hunk.” She poked the one in red. “--- -s Keith.” Lance looked them all over and smiled. “Pidge, Hunk, Keith,” They all looked happy with the pronunciation so he continued, placing a hand on his own chest. “I’m Lance, Prince of Altea.”

 

There was still no recognition, so he shrugged and brushed past them, walking back down the ramp. Behind him, conversation started up, “What -- --? ----- -- follow ---?” They seemed to make a decision, as he heard boots clatter down the ramp a few ticks later. 

 

Lance glanced up at Blue’s ceiling. “ _ What do you think, old friend?”  _

 

Blue grumbled, sending a picture of space. Lance wrinkled his nose as his boots hit the ground of the planet he was on. “ _ Come on girl, let's just explore here for a bit.”  _  He knew she could feel his despair at the prospect of being alone in the universe, so she didn’t push it. Lance glanced around where he was, taking in his first look at this planet. He was in a cave, and it had obviously been affected by Blue’s presence. The water glowed a comforting teal, just like the waterfall in his bedroom had; the crystals growing out of the ground were the same color as Allura’s formal earrings that she only wore on his birthday, claiming they could only come out on occasions where the audience deserved to see them. He glanced up, spotting a hole in the roof with a rope dangling from it. He looked back behind him and saw the three natives watching him. He smiled at them and walked over to a pool of water, dipping his hands in it. It was fresh and clear, cold in the way his lion’s quintessence often was. He stood up and shook out his hands, glancing again at the natives. They were still just watching him, which he supposed was fair. If he had never before seen an outer-planet explorer, he would probably do the same thing. “Well, this is just awkward,” he said, walking away from them and towards the rope. “What’s a guy supposed to do when no one else can understand him?” It was a rhetorical question, but it was funny to see they still had no idea what he was saying. He shook his head and flicked at the cuff again. He probably should have been paying more attention to Coran when he had explained the thing to him, pointing out all its bits and bobs, but Lance had just been too excited to really care. And he had been safe in the knowledge that there would be  _ someone _ out there who had the skills to repair it, should it ever break. He was regretting his past naiveness now, all alone on a strange planet with familiar-yet-not inhabitants. Perhaps a more traditional approach to the language was in order.

 

The thought of the loving royal consultant made Lance’s heart ache.  _ Did Coran and Allura make it to the healing pods?” _ he wondered, approaching the rope.  _ “If they did, did they live good lives? _ ” He knew many of his people had escaped Zarkon’s wrath, but would there even be any left after ten thousand years? Lance grit his teeth and began climbing the rope, the slight physical activity distracting him from thoughts of heart and home. 

 

“Woah --- --- ---” Lance ignored the gibberish, finding himself in a dimly lit cave, drawings of Voltron fully formed, Blue, and his own sharp shooting symbol dotting the cavern walls. Altean writing covered the spaces between the art, scattered phrases and concepts scrawled on the walls, as well as what looked like native artwork. “Here lies the Blue lion and her Paladin, the prince of Altea,” he read, a finger tracing the letters.  _ “Come on Blue,”  _ he sent through the bond. “ _ You couldn't have been a little more subtle?”  _

 

Blue sent sent a picture of him and Allura learning their letters, and of him being happy.  _ “I thought you would like them,” _ she said simply, before receding back to a presence in the back of his mind. 

 

Lance’s fingers paused on a roughly carved  _ kayli,  _ used in sentences for when a’s and e’s were next to each other. “Well, you certainly got them right. I didn't know you were paying this much attention to my lessons.” 

 

Blue didn't respond besides a low rumble. Lance felt a smile tug at his lips; she would only speak when she wanted to, and not a minute sooner.

 

“--- you --- --?” Lance turned to see the small one, Pidge, approaching where he stood. She stopped close to the wall but out of his reach, toggling what he assumed were glasses on her face. Lance looked back at his hand on the  _ kayli _ , then back at her. He tapped against the rock where the sentence started, then moved his hand from left to right. He intentionally turned off his translator so he could be sure he was pronouncing it right, as often times the translator would occasionally translate purposeful Altean into something else in its database which had millions of languages in it. “Köņtý g Gbûm drėņ ī jæv Påladîn, g lïąk Altea.” The familiar syllables rolled off his tongue and he relished the soft u’s and playful  _ kaylis _ . Though he knew many languages without the help of the translator, he had always loved Altean the most.

 

“Koonyte ga buinm…” she trailed off, looking at him. He mentally turned the translator back on fast enough to catch the first part of her sentence. “-- that --?” he scrunched his nose, trying to put context clues together. “Eh,” he finally said, and judging by the look on her face, she recognized what he was saying.

 

Lance pulled away from the wall and walked towards the entrance of the cave, tucking his hand in the ripped part of his uniform as a chilled breeze scuttled through the cave rocks. He kept walking, very aware of the other two, Hunk and Keith, joining Pidge. They conversed for a bit, but Lance ignored them in favour of the fresh air blowing in from the entrance. He walked out and was a taken aback by the landscape, his breath escaping him. It was night, the light of this planet's moon glinting off the sand of the desert he was standing in. He walked out and turned around, admiring the towering cliffs and buttresses soaring high into the sky. He walked backwards and tripped, falling into the sand. And  _ sand _ , amazing sand. Lance laid back, closing his eyes and smiling as he gathered the particles in his hands, leaving them in piles there. It brought to mind an ever occurring event that happened whenever Lance and Allura went to a beach; her burying him in the light green sand or vice versa. And although this planet was the wrong color and there was no water in sight, he still relished the feeling. He opened his eyes and was met by the sight of Pidge leaning over him, adjusting her glasses. He yelped and swung his legs out, forgetting himself for a moment in his quick reflexes and battle-worn tactics. Pidge let out a surprised grunt as her legs were knocked from under her, causing her to land with an ‘oof’ as she hit the sand. 

 

Lance stood up, surprised. “Oh, oops. Apologies.” He offered his hand to her, which she grasped and used to stand up. She smiled and put a hand on the back of her head. “My ---.” 

 

Lance sighed and looked up at the stars, the celestial objects far enough away to appear as pinpricks of light. “ _ Whaddya say Blue,”  _ he thought, a smile gracing his lips. “ _ I think I might like it here.” _

 

An exasperated grumble was all he got in response.

 

<<<<<*****>>>>>

 

Pidge was enthralled. No, she was over-the-top ecstatic. She was so excited her tummy was doing backflips! When Keith had shown her and Hunk to the cave, she had been a bit sceptical about a metal creature in a cavern no one had set foot in ever, but man, when that lion had come into view, she was willing to forgive the dusty bike ride into the desert. But when they had found a living, breathing alien alive on the ship, speaking in a foreign language and absolutely at ease with all this tech she could barely wrap her head around, it made all the weekends spent in Keith’s shoddy shack with no air conditioning well worth it. She couldn’t wait to begin to understand what Lance was saying, and also, why alien chatter was talking about his machine when he’d obviously been there for a  _ long _ time. And even when she lay on the ground, the wind half knocked out of her, even after Hunk had said she should be careful, she was still absolutely enthralled by an otherworldly being, because he could help her find her family. 

 

Hunk and Keith walked over to where Lance was now staring at the sky and smiling, his mind seeming to be on something else. Pige fiddled with her glasses- _ Matt’s glasses _ -as they approached, the familiar movement comforting her. 

 

“So what do we do now?” Hunk asked, rubbing at the hem of his shirt. “I mean, we can’t communicate with him, and he’s definitely someone the government would want to get their hands on.”

 

Pidge hadn’t even thought of that, but she was now. The garrison, being the self-righteous pricks they are, would take Lance away before she could even ask if he knew anything about her family, and Iverson would just cover it up just like the Kerberos mission. “Well…” she started, “we could leave him at Keith’s house. Maybe I could figure out how to build a translator or…” she trailed off, looking at the alien in question, who was watching them quizzically. Her sight went to the cuff on his ear and her eyes widened. He seemed to fiddle it whenever one of them started talking, and he had already picked up a word or two. Perhaps he already had a translator! With tech as advanced as that lion, he was sure to have so kind of universal communication device. 

 

“Uh, Pidge?” Keith asked, crossing his arms. “Do I get any say in this? What if he eats me or something?”

 

Hunk punched him in the arm. “Yeah, but you know, like, kung-fu or something. I bet you could take him.” They both looked Lance up and down, causing Pidge to sigh. They were talking about who would win a fight not even two hours into meeting a new person?

 

“No,” she chose to respond, adjusting her bag strap. “You don’t get any say in this. We can’t let any form of government take him, especially with this Voltron business. You’ve been hiding out a long time and they haven't come looking for you. He’d be safest with you.”

 

She looked back to Lance who now had his gaze fixed on her. “Voltron?” he asked, quirking his head. “How…” He grimaced and flicked at his ear again, obviously frustrated. Pidge’s observations were confirmed, she decided, watching him fiddle with it. It was definitely a translator. She approached him slowly, broadcasting her movements. “Can I see?” she asked, pointing to his ear cuff. He looked surprised, but shrugged and nodded, unclipping it and slowly handing it to her. “BrЇ-gпp.”

 

She ignored the strange language for now, instead turning the device over in her hands. “Can you see anything on this?” Pidge asked, turning to Hunk. 

 

He came closer, bending over her hand. The light could have been better, but the moon was full and the stars were bright. “Well,” he said, carefully grabbing the piece. “Maybe on this side or…no, not there. How about here…” he trailed off and Pidge pressed her head close to him. 

 

“Find anything?” Keith asked, shuffling sand with his boot. Pidge ignored him, pressing her face closer to the tiny device. It looked like there might be a port, just where the chain connected to the cuff. It was miniscule, and definitely not something she felt safe to work with, judging by Lance’s concerned face as he watched them poke at his translator. She gave it back carefully, watching as he slipped it back on his ear with practiced ease. Pidge adjusted her backpack and took a step back. “Maybe he has the port in the lion. I can't work with something so delicate when I have no idea how a translator could be that small.”

 

“Oh, so that’s what it is.” Hunk said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I was wondering why he kept touching it.” 

 

Pidge shrugged, “I think that's what it is, but I’m not sure.”

 

“Well, you guys need to get back to the Garrison,” Keith said, catching Pidge’s attention. She looked around and noticed the sun was starting to rise. She hadn’t even noticed they had been up all night, but she started to feel it now. 

 

“Oh crap,” Hunk said, looking at the lightening sky. “We have that test today, and a simulator run!” He rushed over to Keith’s bike, hopping on the back. “Come on!”

 

Pidge shook her head but started walking towards the bike. “Lance,” she said, turning to look at him. “Will you come with us?”

 

The alien in question didn't seem to know what she said, but he followed her anyway, walking behind her as they all walked towards the bike. they all loaded on, the poor vehicle groaning under the added weight. 

 

“Hey Keith,” Hunk said, shifting slightly. “What's this rated?”

 

Keith revved the engine, engaging the hover-tech where the wheels would be. “No idea.” And with that, they sped across the desert.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they met, and are off. Maybe some team bonding is in order. See you next update!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, old and new! Man, this is embarrassing, I haven't posted in a long time. By the way, season 6 of Voltron? Amazing! It got me motivated again. Now, this chapter is shorter that I would have liked, but I feel like I need to just get into a groove again. Thanks to all who've stayed with it this far. Oh, one thing I've decided to change, bold words are things Lance can't understand. That way, you guys aren't getting the same story over and over again from different perspectives *cough-HunterxHunter Ant arc-cough* Enjoy!

Lance was unsure where they were going, but he was willing to play along. He absolutely didn’t want to acknowledge the gaping hole in his heart, so what better way to ignore it than to explore a new planet? He shifted slightly on the land-moving device, careful not to upset it. He was honestly intrigued by the contraption; he had never seen anything like it on Altea or elsewhere. Lance quickly suppressed thoughts from his old world, instead focusing on the desert. He had been to a few planets that were desert in nature, the rough sand often spanning for most of the planet. Even Altea’s deserts…  
No! He forcefully pulled his mind back to this desert. It was golden and had large dunes scattered throughout. Complicated rock formations cut up the horizon in the distance, giving the illusion of orientation in the vast, unchanging sand around him. He distinctly remembered a solo mission on a desert planet, one that he had nearly died on. He had continued walking towards mountains in the distance, them looking much closer than they actually were due to the heat mirages that had ailed the planet constantly. Blue had been on the other side of the galaxy because of the secrecy needed to gather the intel there. Secrecy that a Lion of Voltron wouldn’t allow for.   
Lance was drawn back to the present as Keith sped up the vehicle, cresting over a large sand dune that morphed into a dusty-pink slickrock. The hovercraft moved on undeterred by the terrain change, moving briskly past towering rock spiers as Keith expertly navigated the terrain. Lance had to hand it to the guy: he was a good pilot. The vehicle started up a gentle incline, getting steeper and steeper as they went on. Eventually, it started to curve before abruptly flattening out, with a little house appearing. Keith let them drift to the shack, the hovercraft naturally slowing down. As soon as it came somewhat to a stop, Pidge and Hunk jumped off and started running to another vehicle. A burst of warmth touched Lance’s neck and he turned, briefly blinded by this planet’s sun. He quickly averted his eyes, feeling Blue’s faint grumble at his flash of pain.  
‘I’m fine,’ he reassured her, rubbing his eyes and turning back to the little house. ‘I just looked at the sun.’  
Lance turned his attention back to Pidge and Hunk, who were now nearly to the vehicle.   
“Where are they going?” he asked, turning to Keith, who looked surprised at what must have been correct English.   
“They have school.” Keith responded, putting his hands in his pockets.  
Lance rolled the unfamiliar word in his mouth. “School?” The translator was beginning to pick up verb conjugations, but vocabulary came with time and exposure.  
“Yeah, school. You go there to learn?”  
Lance nodded. “Ah yes. School.” Apparently, this planet was advanced enough to contain education, which was a comfort. Looking at what was surely Keith’s dwelling, as he walked into it and held the door, Lance asked, “Why are you not going?”  
Keith sighed as Lance followed him into the small house. “I was suspended.” Lance gave him a blank look and Keith sighed. “Kicked out? Not allowed?”  
“Ah, not allowed,” Lance nodded. “Why?”  
Keith looked away, and the Altean followed his movements. His gaze fell upon a primitive board holding images and graphs, with the familiar and unique chemical structure of Blue layed out all over it. Alongside it was strings connecting the word Voltron to pictures of the stars, and what looked like the surface of a moon. Beside that was a picture of three people, two of them looking very much like Pidge.   
“What is this?” asked Lance, turning to Keith.  
Keith sighed and walked over to the corner of the one-room house where a small sink sat. “They’re missing.”  
“Missing? What does Voltron have to do with it?” Lance was sure these people were somehow connecting his lion to what had happened, especially because of the way the board was laid out.   
Keith looked at him strangely and Lance sighed. Apparently, the message hadn’t gotten through. He would definitely have to learn their language, especially since the more he saw of these people, the more he wanted to stay. A low grumble shook Lance’s subconscious, and he grimaced. Blue wanted to get going. Hush, old friend, Lance supplied. Let’s just stay until we can help out with finding their friends. He got a projected image of space in return, as well as the picture of the three people in the photo. Taking it for a yes, Lance turned back to Keith, who had seemed to have lost interest in him and was sitting on a couch, reading a small packet of some kind.   
“Food?” Lance asked, coming to sit beside him. Keith looked at him, then back down at at his hands.  
“Yes, if it will work for me,” he responded. “They’re seeds.”   
Lance grimaced. “Seeds?”   
Keith looked at him and rolled his eyes before getting up and walking out of the house, grabbing what looked like a shovel. Lance quickly followed him, as Keith’s surprisingly long strides took him to the back of the house where a small plot of tilled land sat. Keith looked pointedly at him, before kneeling down and opening the packet, placing a small object in the ground. Lance immediately understood.   
“Oh, seeds!”  
Keith threw him a look. “Yes. I ran out of money, and have to grow my own food.”  
Lance decided to ignore the word the translator couldn’t pick up. It would get there eventually. He leaned down, suddenly conscious that he was still in his ripped uniform. He would have to go back to Blue to get his patching materials. But for now, he held out his hand to Keith, gesturing at the packet. “Seeds.”   
Keith looked surprised, but shrugged and poured the little black objects into Lance’s open palm. Lance carefully poked a hole in the ground for each one in his hand, pulling out his bayard and changing it into a small bucket. Blue’s connection with water came in handy in most cases. He had done this many times with his mother, her taste in gardening having always rubbed off on him more than Allura. Lance grimaced. The last thing he remembered of his sister was her injury in the command room. He desperately hoped she made it to the healing pod in time. He looked down to his hands and sighed, seeding the ground in front of him with what he hoped was life-giving sustenance. The thought of anything dying making his stomach queasy in that moment.   
The two boys filled the small lot with seeds, and the sun began to set. Lance took a break and looked up, surprise filling him. The desert appeared to be on fire, the red sand catching and reflection the sun’s light. He was fiercely reminded of Red, and his father.  
“Do you have sunsets on your planet?” Keith asked, following his gaze to the horizon.   
Lance smiled. “Yes. They are, were, very beautiful. My home was by the sea. The light would reflect off the water and dance upon the beach.”  
“Were? Is that a translation mistake?”  
Lance took a deep, shuddering breath. The thought of it made breathing hurt. “No, it’s not. My home, my gödnræ, is perished. No longer will sun set upon my land.”  
“What?” Keith exclaimed. “How?”  
“A betrayal,” Lance stated simply, turning his gaze back upon the fiery sand. “One that cost two races their homeland.”  
Keith said nothing, so Lance sighed and leaned back, his forearms resting on the earth behind him. The first stars began to show, the color the sun brought moving west across the desert.   
“My family’s gone too,” Keith said suddenly. “I never met my mom, and I haven’t seen my dad in a long time. This is all I have left of them.” He brought forth a knife, and Lance lurched forward, placing his hands underneath Keith’s so as to study it closer, without taking it from his grasp.   
“Where did you get this?” the Altean asked, his eyes roaming over the runes.   
Keith ripped his grasp from Lance’s, quickly stumbling away. Lance suddenly realized that he did not know Keith, and he was a stranger to this land and it’s ways. For all he knew, he could have just challenged Keith to the death. They looked at each other, Keith as tense as a drawn bow.   
“My apologies,” Lance said, holding up his hands in what he hoped was surrender.   
Keith eyed him warily, before nodding stiffly. “It’s fine. I overreacted.”  
Lance nodded, hopping the word he missed was something one nods to. “May I ask where you got that knife?”  
Keith shrugged, slowly relaxing. “Yeah, it belonged to my mom. It’s the only thing I have of her.”  
Lance’s eyes widened, and he looked quickly down. The runes were familiar, so familiar. They touched at his subconscious in a way that was familiar, curling through his thoughts. Where had he seen them before?   
“Why do you ask?”  
Lance looked back up to Keith, wondering how much space travel this world participated in. “Because I’ve seen them before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I'm not trying to make an OC out of any characters, but I think Lance would act different if he was raised by royalty. A little more poised, and much more mature. He's been a paladin for a long time in this fic, and would like to think he knows what he's doing. Let me know if anyone has any feedback, suggestions, or wants to rant about the new season. Hopefully, chapter 6 has a quicker turn-around time.

**Author's Note:**

> Well? What'd ya think? Good, bad, so horrible it makes you want to claw your eyes out? 
> 
> Some more info; I plan on end game being Klance as well as some background Shallura (is that right?) Tell me what you think in the commemts!


End file.
